Develop a Recruitment and Enrollment Plan

Designing a recruitment and enrollment strategy is key to making sure you’re ready to launch your National DPP lifestyle change program benefit. Planning ahead will help the implementation process go more smoothly. Establish roles, timelines, and budgets in advance. Here are a few things to consider:

• Define your capacity and budget for recruitment and enrollment. Determine what others will do to support you. What, if any, recruitment and enrollment activities have you already contracted with someone else to do? Will your benefit administrator or program delivery organization play an active role? Clarify roles early and communicate expectations.
• Establish an internal team to provide support for tasks such as finalizing your strategy, creating a workplan, monitoring enrollment, carrying out awareness activities, and evaluating recruitment and enrollment efforts. Be sure to identify someone in your organization to lead your efforts.
• Estimate costs for different types of campaigns if recruitment and enrollment activities are not already contracted and budgeted for. Remember to include costs for printing and staff time, depending on the strategies you select.
• Develop a realistic timeline for planning and implementing your strategies. Expect to begin awareness building and other enrollment activities up to 3 months before your first class. How far in advance do you want to begin promotion? What other factors will affect your timing? For example, consider competing messaging or times when many employees are away from the office or harder to reach.